Apparatus for treating wood.



W. W NORMAN.

APPARATUS FOR TREATING wooo.

APPLICATION FILE D MAR. 29,1913- Patented June 8, 1915.

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Tm NN INENTOR 4 WITNESSES W. W. NORMAN.

APPARATUS FOR TREATING WOOD.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 29, 1913.

l 9 1 6 l 1 a Patented June 8, 1915.

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W. W. NORMAN.

APPARATUS FOR TREATING WOOD. APPLICATION FILED MAR. 29. I913.

Patented June 8, 1915 3 SHEETS-SHEET 3- rnnsr WILLIAM WfNORMAN, OF HUN TERVILLE, MISSOURI.

APPARATUS FOR TREATING WOOD.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 8, 1915.

Application filed March 29, 1913. Serial N 0. 757,670.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM W. NORMAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Hunterville, in the county of Stoddard and State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Treating Wood, of which the following 1s a specification.

My invention relates to an improvement in an apparatus for impregnating wood with chemical or coloring matter, and the ob ect is to provide means for preventing the coloring matter or chemical from entering the log around the heart zone, and to cause the material to be introduced only through the sap zone of the log. If the fluid is allowed to enter the log at the center, the fluid is entirely lost, because it will not be retained, and will be discharged from the log through the heart cracks. There are generally small cracks in and around the heart of the log, and as the heart zone is not porousthat is, there are no sap pores, so that the fluid can be carried the length of the logthe fluid will not be retained by the log around the heart, and therefore-all fluid that is introduced around the heart zone is lost. The air entering the heart or around the heart zone at a high pressure often splits the log asunder, and as it is necessary to use high pressure to remove the sap, I have provided means for preventing the air from entering the heart zone. Therefore, it is the purpose of this invention to provide means for inclosing the heart zone, and to treat only the sap portion of the log.- The sap is first removed from the pores of the log by introducing hot or cold compressed air, preferably, and after the sap has been removed. the coloring fluid is introduced under pressure.

The invention consists of certain novel features of construction and combination of parts which will be hereinafter described and pointed out in the claim.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view through the apparatus as applied to-a log; Fig. 2 is a view of ties and piling 1 can use one gripping head with very satisfactory results. Located at the center of the gripping head is a guide block 1, whichis. provided with a sharpened pin 2. This pin 2 is adapted to enter the center of the log. In the form of gripping head shown in Figs. 1 and 2, I

have disclosed annular concentric grooves 33, in which flanges 4 and 5 are received. These flanges d and 5 are provided with knife edges so that they can be forced into -the..end of the log a suflicient distance for causing the gripping head to be securely held to the log, the space between the flanges forming the fluid chamber 0.

The innermost flange 5 is located around the guide block land in the groove 3, while the outermost flange 4 is located in any desired groove to engage the outer edge of the log. The flanges 4 are made in various sizes to fit the various grooves 3, so that a different-sized log can be treated with the same gripping head. Located in these grooves or recesses is a suitable packing 6, so that when the knives or flanges are forced into the log, an airand water-tight,

connection will be formed between the head and knives.

Openings or ports 7 are formed in the gripping head, and extend through the gripping head between grooves 3. Connected to these openings are pipes 8, which act as supply and vent pipes. These pipes 8 are pro vided with valv'es 8', so that any one of the pipes 8 can be used independently of the others. A supply pipe 9 is connected to the pipes 8 and is provided with a valve 10 for controlling the admission of compressed air and fluid to the pipes 8. A drain pipe 11 is connected to the pipes 8 for draining the liquid from the gripping head or fluid chamber, and this pipe 11 is provided with a valve 12, which can be closed when the drain pipe is not in use to permit of the introduction of air or fluid to the pipes 8 through the pipe 9.

The head A is provided with a hub 13, in which is formed a ball socket 14. A shaft 15 is connected to the hub, and is provided with a ball or rounded end 16, which fits within the socket 1-1. A bolt 17 passes through the hub and shaft so that a swivel connection is formed between the hub and shaft, permitting the head to be adjusted to the uneven surface of an end of a log. This is necessary in many cases, as it is difiicult in cutting timber to have the ends perfectly straight, as they are generally cut by hand with a cross-cut saw.

A coiled spring 18 is mounted around the shaft and is so connected tothe shaft and one of the clamps 19 that when the pressure is released against the shaft, the spring will cause the head to be withdrawn from the end of the log. Power is exerted against the shaft for driving the head into an end of the log by means of a veneer lathe or any other pressure that is simpler or cheaper. or itcan be inserted with a rain (not shown), 7

In placing the head upon a log, it is necessary to have the head properly positioned, so that the heart area or zone of the log can be entirely covered, and to insure the head being properly placed, the innermost flange 5 will be placed against the end of the log, and the center obtained, so that after the flange has again been placed in the disk, the head can be guided to insure the guide block being properly centered, and the flange 5 caused to inclose the heart zone or the heart and the red portion of the log.v The guide block also prevents the knives or flanges 4 and 5 from being driven too far into the log, and entirely closing the fluid chamber C, which. is formed between the inner and outer flanges 5 and 4.

Assuming that a gripping head has been placed upon each end of the log, which log is in a green or unseasoned condition, the

I valve 12 of one of the drain pipes 11 is opened, while at the other end of the log,

hot or cold compressed air, as the occasion may require, is introduced through the pipe 9 and pipe 8 into the gripping head A and into the chamber C, the compressed air being forced into the chamber under sufiicient pressure to cause the air to pass through the pores of the log, forcing the sap from the sap pores and into the chamber C of the gripping head at the opposite end of the log, and the sap being discharged from the grinning head through the pipe 8 and drain pipe 11. After the air has been introduced from one end, the operation is reversed, causing the air to be introduced from the opposite end of the log, from which the air has been previously introduced, causing any sap which may remain in the log to be forced into the opposite end and discharged through the drain pipe 8 of the head, when the log will be in condition for treatment.

ieaoii .A pipe 20 is connected to the pipe 9 for .delivering the fluid to the pipes 8, a valve 21 being provided in the pipe whereby the supply of fluid can be cut oil". The valve 21 is now opened, admitting the fluid or chemical to be delivered to the pipes 9 and 8, and the compressed air is also admitted to the pipe 9, so that the fluid is introduced under pressure into the fluid chambers C at each end of the log, and the fluid is caused to be forced into the sap pores of the log, whereby the log will be impregnated with a coloring or preservative fluid.

In the forms shown in Figs. 4 and 5 I have provided means for multi-coloring the log. In Fig. 4 the fluid chamber is divided by a plurality of radiating flanges, while Fig. 5 discloses concentric flanges, so that the log, when the coloring fluid is introduced, will be formed in concentric circles, and in each of these forms a different-colored fluid can be introduced, so that the log will have a number of different colors throughout.

In Fig. 6 I have disclosed the form of head and flanges used for treatin ties, the outer flange being arranged pre'erably in the form of a rectangle.

From the foregoing it will be seen that I have provided means for preventing the introduction of any fluid to the heart zone of the log. I have found by experience that the heart and portion around the heart will not absorb or take up the fluid, and that the fluid will only be retained in the sap portion of the log, and to overcome this Ohjection and the waste of the fluid, I have provided means for entirely inclosing the heart zone, so that the fluid will not come or pass .into the heart zone. Furthermore, the guide block forms a means of positioning the innermost flange so that the heart zone and red portion of the log can be entirely inclosed.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is An apparatus for treating wood, comprising agripping head, a guide block connected thereto, and flanges on the head engaging the log, said guide block limiting the depth the flanges enter the log for forming a chamber between the flanges, and means for introducing a fluid between the flanges for treating the log confined between the flanges.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature, in the presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM W. NORMAN. 

